As is well known, there are a number of ways in which the charges associated with individual telephone calls can be paid for. These include automatic billing to the calling telephone; the depositing of coins, in the case of a call made from a coin-operated telephone; billing to the called number, a so-called "collect call"; or billing to a so-called "telephone calling card" issued by the telephone companies. The latter are dedicated credit cards that allow a call from any telephone to be charged to the account of the telephone calling card holder.
Because of the continuing trend in America toward a cashless society and a desire of consumers to have all their charges presented on a single statement, the combined commercial credit and telephone calling card was developed by AT&T. Such a card serves a dual role and, as such, has two distinct numbers. The first number is a commercial credit card type number for use in making all purchases except telephone calls. This number originates from a commercial credit card issuer, e.g., VISA. The second number is a telephone calling card type number for use only when charging telephone calls to the combined card. This number originates from the issuing telephone company. A single statement is provided for billing both purchases and telephone calls.
One may also currently charge telephone calls directly to the number of a commercial credit card, but only if the call is placed from specialized telephones that are available in certain public locations. However, further developments will soon provide the desired ultimate flexibility of permitting the charging of telephone calls directly to ordinary commercial credit cards from any telephone set. This functionality is described, for example, in the commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent applications, Ser. Nos. 07/636,535 and 07/636,051, both entitled "Telephone Network Credit Card Calling Apparatus and Method of Operation".